EPCOT Test Track to be reimagined

[Incomudro]

I still had the experiences of these for a longggg time especially because I lived in a not as great neighborhood my whole life, stuff was very slow to change. When I was a kid in the early 2000s, you would be lucky to get to go to Chuck E Cheese for your birthday. It was THE event. It was the most special thing in the world and I still appreciate it for what it was back then.

I'm 22, and I've had many different life experiences than you. My life experiences are just as valid. I've done a lot of things that I would wager you haven't, just because you have more of them or some from a certain time doesn't mean my view on how an attraction fails to live up to what the park should be.

And of course, I have one major thing that you will never quite have. I have a complete lack of nostalgia. I was poor, didn't get to go to Disney until my teens. I don't have rose-tinted glasses about a time that didn't really exist on Disney specifically. Everything I've seen (for the most part) I thought was a major improvement and liked.

So in a way, I feel like I'm a much more objective viewer. I'm a current-day parkgoer who just likes what I see. I'm not overtly loyal to anything (despite being called a shill quite a few times on here).

I still have an emotional connection to the parks but it's not swayed by nostalgia to me. That's just my two cents on the topic atleast. And I'm sure there's people who agree with me and those who don't. And that's fine.

My son's - twin 23 year olds - are your age.
They have a lot of nostalgia, in particular when it comes to the parks.
They don't know about the river and boat removal, as they don't keep up with the parks like I do - but I know it will bother them when they learn about it.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Haven’t read the new messages on here yet, but does anyone else feel kinda… underwhelmed? Like, this is definitely better overall than 2.0, but not as good as 1.0. I appreciate the classic Epcot vibes- the set of the house and garage feel straight out of Spaceship Earth. But for as much as they hyped up the World of Motion inspirations and references, it was just the car saying “it’s fun to be free” and like a bar or two of the song that then transforms into a generic score. Some of the scenes felt empty and boring too- I think they suffer from using the same track, it feels constrained.

Overall, based on the video- it’s like a 7/10? The original 1.0 would be a 9/10 and 2.0 would be a 5-6/10. I never experienced World of Motion but I think I’d enjoy it more just because it’s a dark ride with a nice song and lots to look at.

 

[flynnibus]

I'm 22, and I've had many different life experiences than you. My life experiences are just as valid. I've done a lot of things that I would wager you haven't, just because you have more of them or some from a certain time doesn't mean my view on how an attraction fails to live up to what the park should be.

It’s not a discussion of ‘how much’ experience… it’s that you didn’t have THAT experience. You literally are not the audience the attraction was designed to appeal to. So when it doesn’t resonate the same to you… that is not unusual. To evaluate something from another time you have to view it in it’s context.. not your own.

It would be like going to Versailles and being like “how can this Place be grand? It didn’t even have running water!”. The perspective of someone later is very different. You have to see something through the eyes of the intended audience. That just takes extra effort to be aware of what that is and respect the frame of reference. You have to put in the extra effort to understand what the experience and significance elements are for people of that era.

Test track opened in 1999. That means an adult age 40 at opening grew up in the era of bench seats and limited seat belt usage. Buying cars based on safety was something that was really still something less than 20yrs old…They grew up with basically double the car fatality rate. They were inundated with vehicle safety campaigns in the 15yrs priorbecause it was very much a visible topic for change from the government. Federal vehicle safety minimums was still something that had come into place since they started driving. Kids of the era had been watching all these campaigns.

People didn’t have endless ‘how its made’ style documentaries everywhere like we do now on cable and YouTube.

It’s not that someone outside the period can’t appreciate or critique the thing - they just need to ensure they do so with the correct frame of reference. And have the objectivity to step back and assess not just from personal experience- but respect what the contemporaries were.

 

[osian]

Haven’t read the new messages on here yet, but does anyone else feel kinda… underwhelmed? Like, this is definitely better overall than 2.0, but not as good as 1.0. I appreciate the classic Epcot vibes- the set of the house and garage feel straight out of Spaceship Earth. But for as much as they hyped up the World of Motion inspirations and references, it was just the car saying “it’s fun to be free” and like a bar or two of the song that then transforms into a generic score. Some of the scenes felt empty and boring too- I think they suffer from using the same track, it feels constrained.

Overall, based on the video- it’s like a 7/10? The original 1.0 would be a 9/10 and 2.0 would be a 5-6/10. I never experienced World of Motion but I think I’d enjoy it more just because it’s a dark ride with a nice song and lots to look at.

Nope - not underwhelmed, I'm pleasantly surprised, and relieved actually. It's sort of what I expected it to be, reading between the lines, seeing what was published etc and being sensible about it. Disney didn't hype it up with WoM statements, the fans did. I don't recall what the exact words were but wasn't it something like "inspiration from" or "nods to"? That doesn't mean it's going to be a clone of or recreation of WoM, just means they'll drop a few Easter eggs here and there. That's exactly what it is and actually invokes more feelings of WoM than I expected it to out of those phrases, there was more inspiration taken than I thought, in fact not just WoM but Horizons and classic EPCOT Center, I really didn't expect that sort of vibe at all. But I didn't expect it to be WoM part 2 as some people had hyped it up in their own minds to be. I didn't expect completely new cars, I didn't expect an enclosed outside section, I didn't expect a re-routing and re-programming of the track system. It's a re-theme and I think it's pretty good considering that we could have had a Cars future.

Is it "as good as" 1.0? Well, there are many differing opinions here. We have three versions of it now and everyone has their own idea of how to order them.

Personally, I feel it makes more sense than 2.0 but 2.0 had music that I'll never forget and somehow it made the experience a bit, erm, magical.

1.0 is special because that's what the ride designed to be. They wanted to tell a particular story and that story was told via the ride system and how it was programmed. 1.0 was the "perfect" vision of the concept but whether it was a fitting sucessor to WoM and had a rightful place in Future World is open to debate. Many people here hate on 1.0, oh it looks like a warehouse not a quality theme park attraction, do you call those things sets...completely missing the point. But judging the attraction on its own merits, 1.0 told its story in a better way than both 2.0 and 3.0. The ride system was completely custom designed for the story. Even 3.0 has some bits that don't make sense in relation to what the vehicle is doing or the flow of the narrative, but they've done a good job in marrying the ride system to the story in several places.

As with all re-themes, which are mostly IP reimaginings, they already have the ride system and the trick is to find a story that makes sense with it. This doesn't always succeed.

For me, 1.0 is the better overall experience as a storytelling mechanism but 3.0 sits in EPCOT better. Which is a bit odd if classic EPCOT is dead, apparently! And that's just seeing it via video, I think it will be much more impressive in person, as everything is.

I hope Disney learns that this is proof that EPCOT should retain its heart and does't have to be turned into replicas of the other parks.

 

[flynnibus]

But judging the attraction on its own merits, 1.0 told its story in a better way than both 2.0 and 3.0. The ride system was completely custom designed for the story. Even 3.0 has some bits that don't make sense in relation to what the vehicle is doing or the flow of the narrative, but they've done a good job in marrying the ride system to the story in several places.

Yup! And disney’s track record on repurposing existing ride systems has been pretty shotty of late. In many cases I wish they just didn’t try and just commit to the heavy lift.

I mean when they realized ‘smart road’ was the best they could come up with… or had no real purpose to the scenic section they should have pulled the plug and reinvested to modify the ride systems and hope a better attraction will actually perform better and last longer.

 

[jannerUK]

So can anyone explain what the soundtrack to the ride is like. I have tried to avoid looking at POW and videos. As want a first time experience

The one thing I feel that 2.0 did better than 1.0 was the soundtrack. Is 3.0 any good for soundtrack?

 

[osian]

So can anyone explain what the soundtrack to the ride is like. I have tried to avoid looking at POW and videos. As want a first time experience

The one thing I feel that 2.0 did better than 1.0 was the soundtrack. Is 3.0 any good for soundtrack?

Not sure that the music is easily heard in the videos actually, but the best way I can describe it is "pleasant background music"! No, it's not as addictive as 2.0.

 

[Gusey]

Yup! And disney’s track record on repurposing existing ride systems has been pretty shotty of late. In many cases I wish they just didn’t try and just commit to the heavy lift.

I mean when they realized ‘smart road’ was the best they could come up with… or had no real purpose to the scenic section they should have pulled the plug and reinvested to modify the ride systems and hope a better attraction will actually perform better and last longer.

But wouldn't that have significantly increased the budget of the refurb? We know that the main reason this became a major update instead of just a basic refurb was because GM were willing to invest in refreshing the ride. Do we know how much budget they actually provided vs how much rerouting the entire ride, creating new scenes and enclosing the outdoor section would have cost extra? It feels like GM were only willing to invest in changing the story/scenes in the ride vs the actual ride track

 

[flynnibus]

But wouldn't that have significantly increased the budget of the refurb?

Ergo the language you bolded. Of course it will cost more. So will a product that doesn’t deliver and needs to be revamped again sooner than later.

We know that the main reason this became a major update instead of just a basic refurb was because GM were willing to invest in refreshing the ride.

The days of sponsor only rehabs are dead. Disney can’t line them up anymore like they used to. Hanging onto that prayer is what caused so many pavilions to languish already.

Disney needs to pay to play.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

But wouldn't that have significantly increased the budget of the refurb? We know that the main reason this became a major update instead of just a basic refurb was because GM were willing to invest in refreshing the ride. Do we know how much budget they actually provided vs how much rerouting the entire ride, creating new scenes and enclosing the outdoor section would have cost extra? It feels like GM were only willing to invest in changing the story/scenes in the ride vs the actual ride track

And is the trade off worth it if it doubled the cost or something? General consensus seems to be this is the best version of TT (or at least better than the later) and TR already was fairly popular

Definitely makes more sense to put that extra $ elsewhere

 

[Dreamer19]

See, aside from the 5 seconds or so of future city, I didn’t get much of “classic Epcot”.

Yeah, I loved this at first and still think it’s the best thing Disney has done in years. That being said, I would have loved some AA’s.

I liked it because I saw a video of Horizons the other day and this reminded me of that in the sense that they took you through scenes of an imagined future. Some might find that boring, but I think (in this situation) you get that fast payoff at the end. I just wish there were AA’s populating the sets and making them less dead and more kinetic.

 

[osian]

Yeah, I loved this at first and still think it’s the best thing Disney has done in years. That being said, I would have loved some AA’s.

I liked it because I saw a video of Horizons the other day and this reminded me of that in the sense that they took you through scenes of an imagined future. Some might find that boring, but I think (in this situation) you get that fast payoff at the end. I just wish there were AA’s populating the sets and making them less dead and more kinetic.

That's exactly what I saw. It was the male/female conversation, the set pieces of what a future home could look like...reminded me very much of the feeling you got with Horizons. Sounds weird, but I think my fascination with exploring the room mockups in IKEA came from Horizons, the living room scene in SSE and the best incarnation of the descent... It really was the spirit of EPCOT.

 

[Dreamer19]

That's exactly what I saw. It was the male/female conversation, the set pieces of what a future home could look like...reminded me very much of the feeling you got with Horizons. Sounds weird, but I think my fascination of exploring the room mockups in IKEA came from Horizons....

It’s therapeutic.

 

[monothingie]

Nope - not underwhelmed, I'm pleasantly surprised, and relieved actually. It's sort of what I expected it to be, reading between the lines, seeing what was published etc and being sensible about it. Disney didn't hype it up with WoM statements, the fans did. I don't recall what the exact words were but wasn't it something like "inspiration from" or "nods to"? That doesn't mean it's going to be a clone of or recreation of WoM, just means they'll drop a few Easter eggs here and there. That's exactly what it is and actually invokes more feelings of WoM than I expected it to out of those phrases, there was more inspiration taken than I thought, in fact not just WoM but Horizons and classic EPCOT Center, I really didn't expect that sort of vibe at all. But I didn't expect it to be WoM part 2 as some people had hyped it up in their own minds to be. I didn't expect completely new cars, I didn't expect an enclosed outside section, I didn't expect a re-routing and re-programming of the track system. It's a re-theme and I think it's pretty good considering that we could have had a Cars future.

Is it "as good as" 1.0? Well, there are many differing opinions here. We have three versions of it now and everyone has their own idea of how to order them.

Personally, I feel it makes more sense than 2.0 but 2.0 had music that I'll never forget and somehow it made the experience a bit, erm, magical.

1.0 is special because that's what the ride designed to be. They wanted to tell a particular story and that story was told via the ride system and how it was programmed. 1.0 was the "perfect" vision of the concept but whether it was a fitting sucessor to WoM and had a rightful place in Future World is open to debate. Many people here hate on 1.0, oh it looks like a warehouse not a quality theme park attraction, do you call those things sets...completely missing the point. But judging the attraction on its own merits, 1.0 told its story in a better way than both 2.0 and 3.0. The ride system was completely custom designed for the story. Even 3.0 has some bits that don't make sense in relation to what the vehicle is doing or the flow of the narrative, but they've done a good job in marrying the ride system to the story in several places.

As with all re-themes, which are mostly IP reimaginings, they already have the ride system and the trick is to find a story that makes sense with it. This doesn't always succeed.

For me, 1.0 is the better overall experience as a storytelling mechanism but 3.0 sits in EPCOT better. Which is a bit odd if classic EPCOT is dead, apparently! And that's just seeing it via video, I think it will be much more impressive in person, as everything is.

I hope Disney learns that this is proof that EPCOT should retain its heart and does't have to be turned into replicas of the other parks.

They had the opportunity to take the best parts of 1.0 and 2.0 and carry that through to 3.0.

What they got was mid at best. 1.0 had the novelty of the proving grounds concept with a never before done ride system. 2.0 had a weaker and more controversial design, but added the design station and other interactive elements. 3.0 doesn’t even loosely fit the “Test Track” concept, and looses all the interactive features of 2.0 and with the exception of the lidar and projection room is visually unimpressive. It certainly is not the worst work, but it’s also not the best work done by WDI.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

but.. but... They said "its fun to be free!" ... can't you just admire the immense thought and effort they went through to think about that easter egg? You're just a hater! /s

Hey man, no one likes an attitude like this. You can absolutely speak about your dislike of something without acting this way. Plenty here do, including the person you were responding to.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

Why then did they talk up the ‘World of Motion’ influence to get us excited, then do so little with it?

They didn’t. Fans did. Mentioning a ride as aj inspiration point is not talking it up, nor is it making any solid promise of anything other than “hey we are inspired by this.”

All Disney said was they were pulling some inspiration from it. And they did, as has been pointed out here. They never said it was going to be heavy and liberal uses of WoM’s aesthetic and music etc. All they said was inspired by.

Why people took that and ran with it to mean something more substantial I’ll never know beyond a subtle hope that they were somehow rebuilding WoM.

 

[flynnibus]

Why people took that and ran with it to mean something more substantial I’ll never know beyond a subtle hope that they were somehow rebuilding WoM.

So you don't understand how people thought unsolicited mentioning of WoM by Disney was was materially significant.. but you retort with hyperbole like 'hope that they were somehow rebuilding WoM'. Come on dude.. look in the mirror before trying to coach others on how they act.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

Haven’t read the new messages on here yet, but does anyone else feel kinda… underwhelmed? Like, this is definitely better overall than 2.0, but not as good as 1.0. I appreciate the classic Epcot vibes- the set of the house and garage feel straight out of Spaceship Earth. But for as much as they hyped up the World of Motion inspirations and references, it was just the car saying “it’s fun to be free” and like a bar or two of the song that then transforms into a generic score. Some of the scenes felt empty and boring too- I think they suffer from using the same track, it feels constrained.

Overall, based on the video- it’s like a 7/10? The original 1.0 would be a 9/10 and 2.0 would be a 5-6/10. I never experienced World of Motion but I think I’d enjoy it more just because it’s a dark ride with a nice song and lots to look at.

There are more WOM references than just the obvious Fun to be free. The customized vehicle is a reference to both TT 2.0 and the peppers ghost effect at the finale of WOM. The future city is a ref to the center core of WOM. The garage is both SSE and Innoventions inspired. One of the vehicles transformation is the Test track 1.0 ride vehicle. The banter during the scenic drive includes the voice asking “what is it 77?” as a reference to the preshow on 1.0 where Sherri asked “Seven?” The narration before you go outside reference beyond the Horizon. There is a film in the queue straight of the transcenter from WOM:

 

[HMF]

Splash Mountain, Barnstormer, Buzz Lighthear, Astro Orbiter, Disney Animal Kingdom, Beach Club, Yacht Club, POR, OKW, Boardwalk, Wilderness Lodge, Honey I Shrunk the Audience.

Are we going to mention JIYI or are we only doing good attractions?

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

If Test Track was built in the '80's, it'd be World of Motion. Rather, it was World of Motion.

I remember it, I was a kid the last time I rode it but even that was totally different than this. I wish they would have a separate show building in guardians and keep World of Motion the building was actually designed to house 2 rides the other probably being the future Test Track.